As Promis.e for AutoCAD is no longer being developed and migration of data requires both Promis.e for AutoCAD and Promis.e Standalone to be operational, it is imperative to perform this migration while supported operating systems for both are available and working, and an AutoCAD version supported by Promis.e for AutoCAD is available and working.
This document explains the steps necessary to successfully switch from Promis.e 2007 or Promis.e V8i running on AutoCAD to Promis.e Standalone. Some of these steps must be completed before Promis.e for AutoCAD is uninstalled. It is generally recommended that the instructions in this document are followed in the order in which they appear.
To move to a recent release of Promis.e from a "legacy" version of promis.e (promis.e 5.06 through promis.e Aero 2), please see the Migrating Legacy Data To promis.e article. Note: Promis.e V8i SELECTseries 7 (08.11.12.137) is the last version to include the ability to migrate data from promis.e 5.0x, Aero, and Aero II.
For the remainder of this document, the term "Promis.e Standalone" will be used to mean Promis.e with an integrated MicroStation engine as well as older versions of Promis.e running on top of MicroStation or MicroStation PowerDraft.
Important:
As Promis.e for AutoCAD is no longer being developed and migration of data requires both Promis.e for AutoCAD and Promis.e V8i Standalone to be operational, it is imperative to perform this migration while supported operating systems for both are available and working, and an AutoCAD version supported by Promis.e for AutoCAD is available and working. See Compatibility Chart - Promis.e V8i.
You must be moving to the same or newer version number of Promis.e V8i than you are currently using. Projects are not backwards compatible. See Project Database Version - Promis.e.
There is no option in the Migration Wizard to convert projects from Promis.e for AutoCAD to Promis.e Standalone. To "convert" existing projects, back them up with the Save files in MicroStation compatible format option enabled.
Important: Complete this step before uninstalling promis.e for AutoCAD or AutoCAD.
Later, restore the resulting .PRJ files using Promis.e Standalone.
The backup process:
Repeat this process for the remaining projects to be converted. There is no functionality for creating backups of more than one project at a time.
When installing Promis.e Standalone on a machine that had Promis.e for AutoCAD installed, rename the existing local data folder to something like "promis-e Data ACAD". This ensures that a new "promis-e Data" folder is created during the installation of Promis.e Standalone. Alternatively, a unique name can be specified for the new data folder path during installation.
Note: If the path for the data folder specified during installation already exists, a new data folder will not be created and the existing one may not be overwritten, depending on the version of the software. The existing data folder that remains after installation could therefore contain data that is not native to Promis.e Standalone. It will contain drawing files in the .DWG format, while Promis.e Standalone needs to have these files in its native .DGN format.
Download and install the latest V8i "standalone", Power Platform version of Promis.e.
If Promis.e V8i Standalone will be installed on a workstation that has Promis.e V8i for AutoCAD installed, Promis.e V8i for AutoCAD must be uninstalled first, unless using a pre-SELECTseries 5 version (see note below).
As noted in the Rename the Data Folder section, a new "promis-e Data" folder should be created for promis.e to work properly. If sharing promis.e data, the newly created "promis-e Data" folder can be copied to a file server and the Promis.e Setup dialog configured to use it. See also the Network Installation Guide article. It may be desirable to preserve existing network data folders until all users have moved to the new promis.e and the data successfully migrated. Consider migrating data to the new "promis-e Data" folder before moving the folder to a network file server.
For versions prior to Promis.e V8i SELECTseries 5 (08.11.10.xx)
Prior to Promis.e V8i SELECTseries 5 (08.11.10.xx), Promis.e for AutoCAD and Promis.e Standalone could coexist on the same machine as long as they were installed in different paths. This is no longer possible beginning with Promis.e V8i SELECTseries 5.
During installation of older versions you may be prompted for the type installation to perform. Choose the "New Install" option, not the "Upgrade Install" Option. This creates a separate installation from previous versions and ensures that necessary files are installed and in the correct format.
If Promis.e for AutoCAD has not been uninstalled, be sure to specify a unique installation path or "program folder" during installation to avoid overwriting files in the existing path, which would make the Promis.e for AutoCAD non-functional. If the default Program folder path exists, specify a different path during installation of Promis.e Standalone. If Promis.e for AutoCAD has already been uninstalled (as required by recent versions) then the existing path that might remain can be specified here and will be overwritten.
Drawing based data
The contents of catalogs (symbols, macros, and title blocks) and page formats are stored as drawing files and must be in the native format of the platform that promis.e runs on. Therefore any customized catalogs and page formats need to be migrated before they can be used in Promis.e Standalone.
If no custom symbols, macros, title blocks, or page formats were used in Promis.e for AutoCAD, then this step should be skipped; the supplied data in the newly created data folder will be in the correct format.
To convert supporting data:
If a catalog was migrated to an uncompressed catalog, a Catalog Path to it must be added on the Promis.e Setup dialog in order for the catalog to be recognized by Promis.e. If the catalog was migrated to a backup catalog file (.ctlg), import it into Catalog Manager with the Import Catalog button on the right.
To save time, copy custom page format files to a temporary folder and convert the contents of that folder instead of converting the entire contents of the "\PageFormat" subfolder of the promis-e Data folder.
Non-drawing based data
Supporting data that is not stored as drawing files such as parts databases and project option profiles can simply be copied to the new data folder in many cases. Promis.e must then be configured to use that data if applicable. For example a new Parts Database Path would be created for the custom parts database on the Setup dialog.
The Multi_Language_UI.mdb file contains symbol text attributes, language phrases, and mode information. If these have been customized extensively in Promis.e for AutoCAD, it may be worth copying the related tables from the old Multi_Language_UI.mdb to the new file using Microsoft Access. The Multi_Language_UI.mdb also contains dialog related information. The dialogs have changed in SELECTseries 7, so this file cannot simply be directly copied from SELECTseries 6 or older.
System option profiles and user option profiles do not contain many settings and would be better configured using the interface in the new software than transferring from the old software.
If the version of Promis.e Standalone being migrated to uses the same database version as the version of promis.e for AutoCAD currently being used, the existing project database could be used by Promis.e Standalone. However, if the existing project database has been used for awhile or contains data for many projects, this might be a good time to create a new project database. By doing so, the data for the AutoCAD projects would be separate from the data for the MicroStation projects and it would be a simple task to decommission the old database at an appropriate time, leaving the new database free of obsolete data.
If moving to a version of Promis.e Standalone that is newer than the Promis.e for AutoCAD, then the database schema must be updated or a new one created. Again, it is probably better and cleaner to create a new database
Important: The existing project database should not be updated if existing projects are to remain accessible by Promis.e for AutoCAD.
See Creating and Updating the Project Database for details.
Note: If running Promis.e in a network environment, projects should be restored after configuring Promis.e to use the network project database. This is done on the Setup dialog.
There is no functionality for restoring backups of more than one project at a time.
Reduce Project Backup Size
Platform Fundamentals for Promis.e Standalone Users
Network Installation Guide
Creating and Updating the Project Database
How to download the Promis.e software